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Romance Novel Round-up Reviews..
Dec. 4th, 2011 05:59 pmIt occurs to me before I start another one of these romantic comedy novels, that I should do a quick journalistic rundown of the one's I've read. They are all available on Amazon or B&N, whichever. Doubt you will find them in a bookstore though or a library, but you are free to look. Cost between 0$-$5 if that. Cheap pulp novels, folks, akin to the old dime store novels...when a dime (ten cents) actually went further than well can you buy anything with ten cents now?
* ( The Initiation Series by Aphrodite Hunt - warning these books contain NC-17 content )
*( His Indecent Proposal by Lynda Chase - warning this book is categorized as erotica and the plot may offend people )
I can't say I liked this story. In fact, I deleted it off the kindle after reading it.
But three books later? I can't get the thing out of my head. It haunts me. Perhaps because it shines a bright light on the painful and dark realities of this fantasy.
The anti-feminist nature of it. The male gaze - is frightening to women, and why.
Because he is in power and can use it manipulate her and against her. Her body becomes his weapon. The manly-man stereotype isn't as pleasant a sexual experience as we may think. The alpha male turns into a jealous control freak. Financial security is a gilded cage. Jenna fights against all of these throughout the story, but finally is overpowered, her family is not there and can't be, she is alone in the world, destitute...and here comes prince charming right out of the fairy tale to sweep her off her feet...how can she refuse? How, indeed. I thought at the end, okay, being single and not dating is not such a bad thing. Quite wonderful actually!
*( Wife by Wed by Catherine Bybee - a Regency style novel although with sex in it )
It's better than the other two books. Although not as well written, there's more typos and grammatical errors. A few sentences make no sense.
* ( Calculated Risk by Elaine Rocco Chase )
*( Don't Make Me Make You Brownies by Nina Cordoba )
All of these were fast reads by the way. Require little attention. Can be read in about a few hours, a few days. Longest was Don't Make Brownies. Nothing to rave about. If I were to recommend any of them to you? I'd probably suggest either Wife by Wed or Don't Make Me Make You Brownies (the title is basically better than the book and sort of says it all).
[ETA: If you haven't already...there's a really good piece on female fantasy in Time Mag's onzine...about Twilight, which in an odd way comments on the same things I've discussed above. Too often people are judgmental of the fantasies related in these works, without understanding where they come from and why they are there. Contempt, I think, is indicative of ignorance and a tendency towards generalization. We all don't see the world the same way. And that's a good thing. Well, in most cases ;-0.)
* ( The Initiation Series by Aphrodite Hunt - warning these books contain NC-17 content )
*( His Indecent Proposal by Lynda Chase - warning this book is categorized as erotica and the plot may offend people )
I can't say I liked this story. In fact, I deleted it off the kindle after reading it.
But three books later? I can't get the thing out of my head. It haunts me. Perhaps because it shines a bright light on the painful and dark realities of this fantasy.
The anti-feminist nature of it. The male gaze - is frightening to women, and why.
Because he is in power and can use it manipulate her and against her. Her body becomes his weapon. The manly-man stereotype isn't as pleasant a sexual experience as we may think. The alpha male turns into a jealous control freak. Financial security is a gilded cage. Jenna fights against all of these throughout the story, but finally is overpowered, her family is not there and can't be, she is alone in the world, destitute...and here comes prince charming right out of the fairy tale to sweep her off her feet...how can she refuse? How, indeed. I thought at the end, okay, being single and not dating is not such a bad thing. Quite wonderful actually!
*( Wife by Wed by Catherine Bybee - a Regency style novel although with sex in it )
It's better than the other two books. Although not as well written, there's more typos and grammatical errors. A few sentences make no sense.
* ( Calculated Risk by Elaine Rocco Chase )
*( Don't Make Me Make You Brownies by Nina Cordoba )
All of these were fast reads by the way. Require little attention. Can be read in about a few hours, a few days. Longest was Don't Make Brownies. Nothing to rave about. If I were to recommend any of them to you? I'd probably suggest either Wife by Wed or Don't Make Me Make You Brownies (the title is basically better than the book and sort of says it all).
[ETA: If you haven't already...there's a really good piece on female fantasy in Time Mag's onzine...about Twilight, which in an odd way comments on the same things I've discussed above. Too often people are judgmental of the fantasies related in these works, without understanding where they come from and why they are there. Contempt, I think, is indicative of ignorance and a tendency towards generalization. We all don't see the world the same way. And that's a good thing. Well, in most cases ;-0.)